NATCHEZ — Wedding videos are nothing new at Dunleith Historic Inn.

John Holyoak, general manager of Dunleith and Bowie’s Tavern, said people have even used drones to capture wedding footage.

“We do get a lot of really good videos,” Holyoak said.

However, when The Film Poets posted a video they made of a Dunleith wedding on YouTube under the name “Mom Saves Letter over 20 Years for Daughter’s Wedding Gift {Brooke & Tyler},” it gained more than 1.3 million hits in four months.

The video shows the March 7 wedding of Brooke Blackledge, now Zugg, and Tyler Zugg at the popular wedding destination in Natchez.

Click here for wedding video

Zugg and her fiancé, who live in Laurel, decided they wanted a destination wedding. They toured Natchez, and Dunleith caught their attention.

“We fell in love with the home the very first time we set foot on the grounds,” Zugg said.

When the big day came, Zugg was in for a surprise. Zugg was adopted and, when she was 18 months old, her mother and father wrote her a letter about how much of a gift she was.

The video shows Zugg receiving the letter, which had been printed onto a piece of her mother’s wedding dress.

“She gave it to me as a handkerchief to wrap around my bouquet,” Zugg said.

Madeline England, Dunleith’s director of sales and marketing and primary wedding coordinator, remembers the day.

“It was about 200 people,” England said. “They had a daytime wedding.”

However, she said she had no idea about the letter.

“Sometimes I forget all these really special experiences are happening for the family while I’m kind of caught up putting everything together,” England said.

When the video went up, the family called to tell England about it, although she didn’t watch it until later.

England was touched by the story.

“It definitely brought tears to my eyes,” England said.

She also saw some familiar faces, as the video included multiple shots around the venue.

“Some of our staff have tiny little cameos in it,” England said.

When she first saw the video, it had around 100,000 hits. England then shared it around the office.

Holyoak was one of the people who watched the video, which can now be found on the Dunleith website under the weddings tab in addition to YouTube.

“I did not realize that about the bride when they were actually here in March,” Holyoak said.

Then The Huffington Post highlighted the video in an Aug. 5 article, and the views started adding up.

“It’s blown up in the last two weeks for sure,” Zugg said.

The video kept receiving more views and attention as time went by, propelled by its powerful story.

“It kind of shows there are still some people in the world where their families revolve around love,” Zugg said.

Holyoak appreciated the powerful story of the video, but he also appreciated the level of exposure for Dunleith.

“We could never afford to pay for that kind of publicity and marketing for the property,” Holyoak said.

While the video does not specifically say the wedding took place in Natchez, it shows sweeping views of Dunleith.

And, when The Huffington Post article came out, it said the wedding took place in Natchez.

“As soon as people realize where it is, research it, they’ll know exactly where it is,” Holyoak said.

Holyoak hopes it will help bring more people to Dunleith and, in turn, Natchez.

Dunleith’s charm will certainly bring back the Zuggs, who are now expecting their first child in January.

“My husband and I have actually planned on at least trying to spend our anniversary weekends at Dunleith,” Zugg said.